Solid state light sheet having wide support substrate and narrow strips enclosing LED dies in series
A solid state light sheet and method of fabricating the sheet are disclosed. In one embodiment, bare LED chips have top and bottom electrodes, where the bottom electrode is a large reflective electrode. The bottom electrodes of an array of LEDs (e.g., 500 LEDs) are bonded to an array of electrodes formed on a flexible bottom substrate. Conductive traces are formed on the bottom substrate connected to the electrodes. A transparent top substrate is then formed over the bottom substrate. Various ways to connect the LEDs in series are described along with many embodiments. In one method, the top substrate contains a conductor pattern that connects to LED electrodes and conductors on the bottom substrate.
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This is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/044,456, filed on Mar. 9, 2011, entitled, Manufacturing Methods for Solid State Light Sheet or Strip with LEDs Connected In Series for General Illumination, by Louis Lerman et al., which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/018,330, filed on Jan. 31, 2011, entitled Solid State Light Sheet Using Thin LEDs for General Illumination, by Louis Lerman et al., which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/917,319, filed on Nov. 1, 2010, entitled Solid State Bidirectional Light Sheet for General Illumination, by Louis Lerman et al., which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/870,760, filed on Aug. 27, 2010, entitled Solid State Light Sheet for General Illumination, by Louis Lerman et al.
FIELD OF INVENTIONThis invention relates to solid state illumination and, in particular, to a light sheet containing light emitting dies, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), that may be used for general illumination.
BACKGROUNDHigh power LEDs are the conventional choice for general solid state lighting applications. Such high power white LEDs are extremely bright and can have luminous efficacies between 100 and 200 lumens/watt. The input power of a single high-power LED is typically greater than 0.5 watt and may be greater than 10 watts. Such LEDs generate considerable heat since they are only about 1 mm2 in area, so the required packaging is fairly complex and expensive. Although a bare high-power LED chip typically costs well under $1.00 (e.g., $0.10), the packaged LED typically costs around $1.50-$3.00. This makes a high output (e.g., 3000+ lumens) solid state luminaire relatively expensive and not a commercially feasible alternative for a standard 2×4 foot fluorescent light fixture, commonly used in offices. Further, the optics required to convert the high brightness point sources into a substantially homogeneous, broad angle emission for an office environment (where glare control is important) is extremely challenging.
To greatly reduce the cost of a large area, high lumen output light source, it is known to sandwich an array of bare LED dice between a bottom sheet having conductors and a top transparent sheet having conductors. The LEDs have top and bottom electrodes that contact a set of conductors. When the conductors are energized, the LEDs emit light. The light sheet may be flexible.
The Japanese published application S61-198690 by Hiroshi (filed in 1985 and published on 3 Sep. 1986) describes a light sheet using a plastic transparent front substrate having thin wires formed on it. A bottom substrate also has thin wires formed on it. An array of bare LED chips with top and bottom electrodes is arranged on the bottom substrate, and the front substrate is adhesively secured over the LED chips. LED chips at the intersections of energized perpendicular wires emit light.
The Japanese published application H08-18105 by Hirohisa (filed in 1994 and published on 19 Jan. 1996) describes a light sheet using a transparent front substrate having transparent electrodes (ITO) connected to metal strips. A backside substrate has metal conductors arranged in strips. Bottom electrodes of bare LED chips are bonded to the metal conductors on the backside substrate, such as using solder paste and reflow. A stamped “epoxy hotmelt adhesive” is provided on the backside substrate surrounding the LED chips. A liquid epoxy molding resin then fills in the inner area within the epoxy hotmelt adhesive. The hotmelt adhesive is then softened, and the front substrate is then affixed over the LED chips using the hotmelt adhesive and the cured molding resin. Applying current to the perpendicular strips of metal conductors on the opposing substrates energizes an LED chip at the intersection of two conductors. In one embodiment, the front and backside conductors/electrodes are formed over the entire surface, so all the LED chips will be energized simultaneously for use as an illuminator.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,087,680 to Gramann (priority filing date 31 Jan. 1997, issued 11 Jul. 2000) describes a light sheet using “elastic plastic” top and bottom substrates. Thin metal conductor strips and electrodes are sputtered onto the substrates or deposited in other conventional ways. Bare LED chips are provided with top and bottom electrodes. A conductive adhesive is used to adhere the bottom electrodes of the LED chips to the bottom substrate electrodes. A “coupling medium” fills in the spaces between the LED chips and is used for increasing light extraction. The coupling medium may be a liquid adhesive such as epoxy, resin, or silicone. The top substrate is then affixed over the LED chips, where the adhesive coupling medium affixes the substrates together and encapsulates the LED chips. Gramann describes the top and bottom substrates being “a structured conducting foil being formed essentially of plastic” that is capable of “plastic or elastic deformation,” so the light sheet is flexible.
Various patents to Daniels et al. have been issued relating to the earlier light sheets described above. These include U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,217,956; 7,052,924; 7,259,030; 7,427,782; and 7,476,557. Daniels' basic process for forming a flexible light sheet is as follows. Bare LED chips having top and bottom electrodes are provided. A bottom substrate sheet is provided with metal conductor strips and electrodes. A hotmelt adhesive sheet is formed separately, and the LED chips are embedded into the adhesive sheet. A transparent top substrate sheet is provided with metal conductor strips leading to transparent ITO electrodes. The adhesive sheet, containing the LEDs, is sandwiched between the top and bottom substrates, and the three layers are laminated together using heat and pressure so that there is electrical contact between the LED chips' electrodes and the opposing substrate electrodes. The process is performed as a continuous roll-to-roll process. The roll is later cut for a particular application. The LED chips may be arranged in a pattern to create a sign, or the LED chips may be arranged in an array to provide illumination.
In an alternative Daniels process, described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,259,030, a bottom substrate has an adhesive conductive sheet over it, on which is laminated a double sided adhesive sheet with holes. The LEDs are then placed in the holes, and another conductive sheet is laminated over the double sided adhesive sheet. The top transparent substrate is then laminated over the conductive sheet. The LEDs are electrically bonded to the two conductive layers by a high pressure roller at the end of the lamination process so the LEDs are connected in parallel.
Problems with the above-described prior art include: 1) little or no consideration for removing heat from the LEDs; 2) excessive downward pressure on the LEDs during lamination; 3) total internal reflections (TIR) caused by differences in indices of refraction; 4) difficulty in providing phosphor over/around the LEDs to create white light; 5) no consideration for enabling the light sheet to be optically functional and aesthetically pleasing if one or more LEDs fail (e.g., shorts out); 6) unattractive non-uniformity of light and color over the light sheet area; 7) difficulty of manufacture; 8) unreliability of LED electrode bonding; 9) excessively high lamination pressures needed to create wide light sheets; 10) inefficiency due to light absorption; 11) difficulty in creating series strings of LEDs; 12) impractical electrical drive requirements for the LEDs; and 13) inability of the light sheet to emit light in other than a Lambertian pattern. There are other drawbacks with the above-described light sheets.
What is needed is a cost-effective light sheet that can substitute for a standard fluorescent lamp fixture or that can be used for other lighting applications.
SUMMARYLight sheets and techniques for fabricating the light sheets are described that overcome drawbacks with the prior art.
In one embodiment, a flexible circuit is formed as a strip, such as 3-4 inches by 4 feet, or in a single large sheet, such as a 2×4 foot sheet. On the bottom of the sheet is formed a conductor pattern using plated copper traces leading to connectors for one or more power supplies. At certain areas of the flex circuit, where bare LED chips are to be mounted, metal vias extend through the flex circuit to form an electrode pattern on the top surface of the flex circuit. In one embodiment, the pattern is a pseudo-random pattern, so if any LED fails (typically shorts) or any electrode bond fails, the dark LED will not be noticeable. In another embodiment, the pattern is an ordered pattern. If the light sheet spreads the LED light laterally, a dark LED may not be noticeable due to the light mixing in the light sheet. The metal vias provide heat sinks for the LEDs, since the rising heat from the LEDs will be removed by the air above the light sheet when the light sheet is mounted in a ceiling. The metal vias can be any size or thickness, depending on the heat needed to be extracted.
In another embodiment, the sheet comprises a highly reflective layer, such as an aluminum layer, having a dielectric coating on both surfaces. The reflective sheet is patterned to have conductors and electrodes formed on it. The aluminum layer also serves to spread the LED heat laterally. The dielectric coatings may have a relatively high thermal conductivity, and since the sheet is very thin (e.g., 1-4 mils, or less than 100 microns), there is good vertical thermal conduction. Such reflective films will reflect the LED light towards the light output surface of the light sheet.
Bare LED chips (also referred to as dice) are provided, having top and bottom electrodes. The bottom electrodes are bonded to the metal vias extending through the top of the flex circuit. A conductive adhesive may be used, or the LEDs may be bonded by ultrasonic bonding, solder reflow, or other bonding technique. In one embodiment, low power (e.g., 60-70 milliwatts) blue or ultraviolet LEDs are used. Using low power LEDs is advantageous because: 1) hundreds of LEDs may be used in the light sheet to spread the light; 2) low power LEDs are far less expensive than high power LEDs; 3) there will be little heat generated by each LED; 4) a failure of a few LEDs will not be noticeable; 5) the localized LED light and slightly varying colors will blend into a substantially homogenous light source a few feet from the light sheet without complex optics; 6) the blue light can be converted to white light using conventional phosphors; 7) higher voltages can be used to power many series-connected LEDs in long strips to reduce power loss through the conductors; and other reasons.
Over the top of the flex circuit is affixed a thin transparent sheet (an intermediate sheet), such as a PMMA sheet or other suitable material, that has holes formed around each LED. The intermediate sheet is formed with reflectors such as prisms on its bottom surface or with reflectors within the sheet, such as birefringent structures, to reflect light upward. The thickness of the intermediate sheet limits any downward pressure on the LEDs during the lamination process. The top electrodes of the LEDs may protrude slightly through the holes in the intermediate sheet or may be substantially flush. The intermediate sheet may be secured to the flex circuit with a thin layer of silicone or other adhesive or bonding technique.
The intermediate sheet may also be provided with a thin reflective layer, such as aluminum, on its bottom surface for reflecting light. Since the flex circuit conductors are on the bottom of the flex circuit, and the metal vias are only in the holes of the intermediate sheet, there is no shorting of the conductors by the metal reflective surface of the intermediate sheet.
In one embodiment, the LEDs have a thickness between about 85-250 microns, and the intermediate sheet surrounding the LEDs is about the same thickness as the LEDs.
In another embodiment, the intermediate sheet is a dielectric sheet having cups molded into it at the positions of the LEDs. The cups have a hole in the bottom for the LEDs to pass through. The surface of the sheet is coated with a reflective layer, such as aluminum, which is coated with a clear dielectric layer. The reflective cups are formed to create any light emission pattern from a single LED. In such an embodiment, the LED light will not mix within the intermediate sheet but will be directly reflected out.
The space between the LEDs and the hole (or cup) walls in the intermediate sheet are then filled with a mixture of silicone and phosphor to create white light. The silicone encapsulates the LEDs and removes any air gaps. The silicone is a high index of refraction silicone so that there will be good optical coupling from the GaN LED (a high index material), to the silicone/phosphor, and to the intermediate sheet. The area around each LED in the light sheet will be the same, even though the alignment is not perfect. The LEDs may be on the order of 0.10 mm2-1 mm2, and the intermediate sheet holes may have diameters around 3 mm or more, depending on the required amount of phosphor needed. Even if an LED is not centered with respect to the hole, the increased blue light from one side will be offset by the increased red-green light components (or yellow light component) from the other side. The light from each LED and from nearby LEDs will mix in the intermediate sheet and further mix after exiting the light sheet to form substantially homogenous white light.
In one embodiment, the LEDs have a top surface area on the order of 100×100 microns to 300-300 microns, and a thickness of 85-250 microns. Therefore, there is a significant side emission component.
A transparent flex circuit is then laminated over the intermediate sheet, where the top flex circuit has a conductor and electrode pattern. The electrodes may have a conductive adhesive for bonding to the top electrodes of the LEDs. A silicone layer may be provided on the flex circuit or on the intermediate sheet for affixing the sheets together. The transparent flex circuit is then laminated under heat and pressure to create good electrical contact between the LED electrodes and the top circuitry. The intermediate sheet prevents the downward pressure during lamination from excessively pressing down on the LEDs. The intermediate sheet also ensures the light sheet will have a uniform thickness so as to avoid optical distortions.
To avoid a bright blue spot over each LED, when viewed up close, the top flex circuit electrode may be a relatively large diffusing reflector (e.g., silver) that reflects the blue light into the surrounding phosphor. Such a large reflector also reduces the alignment tolerance for the sheets.
Even if a reflector over each LED is not used, and since the LEDs are small and not very bright individually, the blue light from the top surface of the LEDs may be directly output and mixed with the red/green or yellow light generated by the phosphor surrounding the LED to create white light a short distance from the light sheet.
Alternatively, phosphor may be formed as a dot on the top surface of the top flex circuit above each LED. This would avoid a blue spot over each LED. The phosphor/silicone in the holes, encapsulating the LEDs, would then be used just for converting the side light from the LEDs. If light from the top surface of each LED is to exit the top flex circuit for conversion by the remote phosphor, the flex circuit electrode may be transparent, such as a layer of ITO. In an alternative embodiment, there is no phosphor deposited in the holes in the intermediate sheet, and all conversion is done by a remote phosphor layer on the top surface of the top flex circuit.
In one embodiment, the LED chips are flip chips, and all electrodes and conductors are formed on the bottom substrate. This simplifies the series connections of the LEDs and improves electrode bond reliability.
For easing the formation of series connections with LED chips having top and bottom electrodes, the LED chips may be alternately mounted upside down on the bottom substrate so that the cathode of an LED chip can be connected in series to the anode of an adjacent LED chip using the conductor pattern on the bottom substrate. The top substrate also has a conductor pattern for connecting the LEDs in series. Combinations of series and parallel groups can be created to optimize the power supply requirements.
In another embodiment, the intermediate sheet has electrodes formed on opposing walls of its square holes. The LED chips, with top and bottom electrodes, are then inserted vertically in the holes so that the LED electrodes contact the opposing electrodes formed on the walls of the holes. The electrodes formed in the holes extend to a top surface, a bottom surface, or both surfaces of the intermediate sheet for being interconnected by a conductor pattern on the top substrate or bottom substrate. In an alternate embodiment, the conductor pattern for any series connection or series/parallel connection is formed directly on a surface or both surfaces of the intermediate sheet.
In another embodiment, there is no intermediate sheet and conductors are patterned on top and bottom substrates. One or both of the substrates has a cavity or groove to accommodate the thickness of the LEDs. The vertical LEDs are then sandwiched between the two substrates. If the LEDs are thin enough, no cavities are needed to accommodate the thickness of the LEDs since the assembly process can simply rely upon the plastic deformation of materials to encase the LEDs. The conductor patterns on the opposing substrates are such that the sandwiching connects the conductors to couple adjacent LEDs in series. The substrates may be formed as flat strips or sheets, or rounded, or a combination of flat and rounded. In one embodiment, the sandwiched structure forms a flexible cylinder or half cylinder that contains a single string of series connected LEDs. The flexible strings may be connected in series with other strings or connected in parallel with other strings, depending on the desired power supply.
If the light sheet is formed in strips, each strip may use its own power supply and be modular. By fabricating the light sheet in strips, there is less lamination pressure needed, and the lamination pressure will be more uniform across the width of the strip. The strips can be arranged next to each other to create any size light sheet, such as a 2×4 foot light sheet or even a 6 inch by 4 foot or longer light sheet to substitute for light sources within a standard fluorescent fixture in an office environment. It is common for fluorescent fixtures within a given ceiling cut-out to contain two, three, four or more linear fluorescent lamps. Each light sheet strip may substitute for a single fluorescent lamps and have a similar length. This embodiment of the light sheet can generate the roughly 3000 lumens needed to replace the typical fluorescent lamp and, by inserting the required number of strips in a variety of spatial configurations, it is possible to manufacture the lighting fixture with the same flexibility of lumen output to suit the lighting application. The particular design of the light sheet enables the light sheet to be a modular cost-effective solution.
Alternatively, it is known that standard ceiling grid configurations for fluorescent fixtures come in discrete sizes such as 6 inches×4 feet, 1×4 feet, 2×4 feet and 2×2 feet. It is possible to consider the use of narrow 2 foot strips of 1500 lumens each as a standard modular size that could potentially be used as building blocks within each of these configurations. Thus, the manufacturer of the final fixture could stock a single size component by which they could conceivably create any type of lamp configuration and geometry as seen in the majority of applications.
Various light strips in a fixture may be tilted at different angles to direct a peak intensity of the light from an associated light strip at any angle. This greatly expands the ability of a composite fixture to shape and modulate the distribution of light in the far-field away from the light fixture itself.
Alternatively, a single 2×4 foot light sheet (or sheet of any size) may be employed that is, in itself, the fixture without any enclosure.
For the case where the lighting fixture offers significant surface area, such as in a 2×4 foot fluorescent light fixture, there is significant room to blend many smaller LED sources such that their local thermal conditions are better managed than in a retrofit bulb or spot light type light source where the heat becomes highly localized and thus harder to manage.
The light sheets are easily controlled to be automatically dimmed when there is ambient sunlight so that the overall energy consumption is greatly reduced. Since individual light sheets may have combinations of series and parallel strings, it is also possible to create sub-light sheet local dimming. Other energy saving techniques are also discussed herein.
The LEDs used in the light sheet may be conventional LEDs or may be any type of semiconductor light emitting device such as laser diodes, super-luminescent light emitting diodes, etc. Work is being done on developing solid state devices where the chips are not diodes, and the present invention includes such devices as well.
The flexible light sheets may be arranged flat in a support frame, or the light sheets may be bent in an arc for more directed light. Various shapes of the light sheets may be used for different applications. The top flex circuit sheet or the intermediate sheet may have optical features molded into it for collimating the light, spreading the light, mixing the light, or providing any other optical function.
For some applications, such as for using the light sheet in a reflective troffer or hanging from the ceiling, the light sheet is made bidirectional.
In one embodiment of a bidirectional light sheet, the upward emission is UV to disinfect the air, such as from a vent or entering an air return duct. The bottom emission will typically be substantially white light.
In another embodiment, the LEDs are mounted on a snap-in substrate that snaps into a groove or cavity formed in the top substrate. Electrical connections are automatically made by the snap-in fit.
The light strips may be located in a standard fluorescent tube form factor for supporting and powering the LEDs using a standard fluorescent lamp fixture. In one embodiment, the tube form factor has a flat top on which the light strip is mounted. The flat top is directly contacted by ambient air to cool the light strip, or there may be an intermediate layer between the flat top and the air. The variable emission patterns of various light strips in the tube enable the tube to have any emission pattern.
Various techniques of removing heat from the LEDs are also described.
Novel methods of encapsulating the LED dies are also disclosed. In one embodiment, holes are formed in the top substrate aligned with the space around each LED die. After the top substrate is affixed over the LED dies, an encapsulant is injected into the space via the holes in the top substrate. Some holes allow air to escape from the space as the space is filled by the encapsulant.
In another method, the bottom electrodes (e.g., anodes) of vertical LEDs are bonded to metal pads on a flexible circuit. A top substrate layer is then laminated on, sprayed on, or deposited in other ways. The top substrate is not required to have metal traces preformed on it. A laser or other material milling procedure is automatically controlled to drill narrow holes in the top substrate to expose the top contacts of the vertical LEDs and expose conductors leading to the bottom electrodes of the LEDs. A metal or other conductor is then deposited in the holes and over the top substrate, such as by printing, sputtering, plating, etc., to form the series connections between LEDs. Thus, the interconnection is performed by an external conductor in combination with the conductors on the bottom flexible circuit.
Instead of a laser, photoresist posts may be formed over the areas to be contacted by the external conductor. The top substrate is then formed, and the posts are stripped away. A metal is then deposited in the openings and formed to interconnect the LEDs. In one embodiment, where the top substrate overlies the posts, a chemical, mechanical polishing (CMP) step may be performed to expose the posts such that they can be stripped away in another process.
In another embodiment, metal studs are affixed to the LED electrodes and other conductors prior to the top substrate being deposited. The top substrate is then polished down to the studs, and the studs are electrically interconnected by a metal pattern formed on the surface of the top substrate.
In another embodiment, CMP is used to thin a patterned dielectric layer that has metal formed in trenches and holes. The metal that remains forms the external interconnections between LEDs.
Other variations are described herein.
The below described drawings are presented to illustrate some possible examples of the invention.
Any of the various substrates and intermediate layers may be mixed and matched in other embodiments.
Elements that are the same or similar are labeled with the same numerals.
DETAILED DESCRIPTIONThe pseudo-random pattern may repeat around the light sheet 10 (only the portion within the dashed outline is shown). A pseudo-random pattern is preferred over an ordered pattern since, if one or more LEDs fail or have a poor electrical connection, its absence will be significantly harder to notice. The eye is drawn to defects in an ordered patterns where spacings are consistent. By varying the spacing in a pseudo-random pattern such that overall light uniformity is achieved and where there may be a low amplitude variation in luminance across the surface of the fixture, then the loss of any one LED would not be perceived as a break in the pattern but blend in as a small drop in local uniformity. Typical viewers are relatively insensitive to local low gradient non-uniformities of up to 20% for displays. In overhead lighting applications, the tolerable levels are even higher given that viewers are not prone to staring at fixtures, and the normal angle of view is predominantly at high angles from the normal, where non-uniformities will be significantly less noticeable.
An ordered pattern may be appropriate for applications where there is a substantial mixing space between the light sheet and the final tertiary optical system which would obscure the pattern and homogenize the output adequately. Where this would not be the case and there is a desire to have a thinner profile fixture, then the pseudo random pattern should be employed. Both are easily enabled by the overall architecture.
Alternatively, a variably ordered pattern of LED areas 12 may modulate across the light sheet 10.
The light sheet 10 is generally formed of three main layers: a bottom substrate 14 having an electrode and conductor pattern; an intermediate sheet 16 acting as a spacer and reflector; and a transparent top substrate 18 having an electrode and conductor pattern. The LED chips are electrically connected between electrodes on the bottom substrate 14 and electrodes on the top substrate 18. The light sheet 10 is very thin, such as a few millimeters, and is flexible.
In one embodiment, to achieve a series connection of LED chips using top and bottom conductors, some LEDs chips are mounted on the bottom substrate with their anodes connected to the bottom substrate electrodes and other LED chips are mounted with their cathodes connected to the bottom electrodes. Ideally, adjacent LED chips are reversely mounted to simplify the series connection pattern. The conductor between the electrodes then connects the LED chips in series. A similar conductor pattern on the top substrate connects the cathodes of LED chips to the anodes of adjacent LED chips.
An DC or AC power supply 23 is shown connected to the connector 22. An input of the power supply 23 may be connected to the mains voltage. If the voltage drop of an LED series string is sufficiently high, the series string of LEDs may be driven by a rectified mains voltage (e.g., 120 VAC).
In another embodiment, it is also possible to connect the LED chips in two anti-parallel series branches, or derivatives thereof, that will enable the LED chips to be driven directly from AC, such as directly from the mains voltage.
The conductor layer 28 may be any suitable pattern, such as for connecting the LED chips in series, parallel, or a combination, depending on the desired power supply voltage and current, and depending on the desired reliability and redundancy.
Suitable sheets having a reflective layer may be MIRO IV™, Vikuiti DESR™, or other commercially available reflective sheets.
In one embodiment, components of the drive circuitry may be patterned directly on the bottom substrate 44 to avoid the need for separate circuits and PCBs.
Other types of LED chips are also suitable, such as LED chips that do not have a top metal electrode for a wire bond. Some suitable LED chips may have a transparent top electrode or other electrode structures.
In one embodiment, the bottom surface of the intermediate sheet 64 is coated with a reflective film (e.g., aluminum) to provide a reflective surface. The intermediate sheet may also optionally have a further coating of dielectric to prevent electrical contact with traces and to prevent oxidation during storage or handling.
To adhere the intermediate sheet 64 to the bottom substrate 14, the bottom surface of the intermediate sheet 64 may be coated with a very thin layer of silicone or other adhesive material. The silicone may improve the total internal reflection (TIR) of the interface by selection of a suitably low index of refraction relative to the intermediate sheet 64.
In one embodiment, the intermediate sheet 64 is molded to have prisms 70 formed in its bottom surface for reflecting light upward by TIR. If the bottom surface is additionally coated with aluminum, the reflection efficiency will be improved. Instead of, or in addition to, a prism pattern, the bottom surface may be roughened, or other optical elements may be formed to reflect the light through the light output surface.
In another embodiment, the phosphor around the LED chips 56 in the holes may be preformed and simply placed in the holes around the LED chips 56.
Instead of the intermediate sheet 64 having holes with straight sides, the sides may be angled or be formed as curved cups such that reflectance of light outwards is enhanced.
All the various examples may be suitably modified if the phosphor is provided by the LED manufacturer directly on the LED chips 56. If the LED chips 56 are pre-coated with a phosphor, the encapsulant may be transparent silicone or epoxy.
Even if the LED chips 56 are not perfectly centered within a hole 66/74, the increased blue light passing through a thin phosphor encapsulant will be offset by the decreased blue light passing through the thicker phosphor encapsulant.
A thin layer of silicone may be silk-screened, sprayed with a mask, or otherwise formed on the bottom surface of the top substrate 88 for affixing it to the intermediate sheet 64. The electrodes 90 are preferably not covered by any adhesive in order to make good electrical contact with the LED chip electrodes 58.
The thickness of the completed light sheet may be as little as 1-2 mm or less, resulting in little optical absorption and heat absorption. For added structural robustness, the light sheet can be made thicker. If additional optics are used, such as certain types of reflecting cups and light-shaping layers, the total thickness can become up to 1 cm and still maintain flexibility. The structure is cooled by ambient air flow over its surface. Any of the substrates and intermediate sheets described herein can be mixed and matched depending on the requirements of the light sheet.
The top substrate 88 (or any other sheets/substrates described herein) may have a roughened top or bottom surface for increasing the extraction of light and providing a broad spread of light. The roughening may be by molding, casting, or micro bead blasting.
In another embodiment, shown in
In another embodiment, LED chips are used where both electrodes are on the top of the chip, where the electrodes are normally used for wire bonding. This is similar to
As shown in
In the example of
The conductors 158 in
Any air gaps between the LED chips 56 and the holes 152 may be filled in with a suitable encapsulant that improves extraction efficiency.
A phosphor layer 162 converts the blue light to white light.
In
The interconnector 180 may also be a plating of the hole in the intermediate sheet 182 or a soft conductor paste that is injected into the hole, printed within the hole, etc.
A phosphor layer or tile 188 may be affixed on the top substrate 184 over the LED chips 56 to convert the blue light emitted from the top surface of the chips 56 to white light. If the phosphor layer/tile 188 was large enough, then phosphor need not be used in the encapsulant.
The bottom substrate 176 may have a reflective layer either imbedded in it or on its bottom surface, as previously described, for reflecting light toward the light output surface.
In a related embodiment, the hole for the interconnector may be formed completely through the light sheet, then filled with a metal or coated with a metal. The hole may be formed using a laser or other means. The metal may be a printed solder paste that is reflowed to make electrical contact to the conductors formed on the substrates to complete the series connection. Extending the metal external to the light sheet will improve heat sinking to ambient air or to an external heat sink material. If the metal has a central hole, cooling air may flow through it to improve heat sinking.
In
Cathode conductors 194 are formed on the bottom substrate 190 and are bonded to the cathode electrodes of the vertical LED chips 56.
A top substrate 196 has anode conductors 198 that are aligned with the anode electrodes of the LED chips 56 and also make contact with the cathode conductors 194 to connect the LED chips 56 in series. The area around each LED chip 56 may be filled in with a phosphor/silicone mixture to encapsulate the chips 56, or just silicone may be used as the encapsulant and the top surface of the top substrate 196 is coated with a layer of phosphor to create white light.
Instead of the groove or cavity being formed in the bottom substrate 190, the groove or cavity may be formed in the top substrate 196, or partial-depth grooves or cavities may be formed in both substrates to account for the thickness of the chips 56.
As shown in
In all the embodiments described herein, metal slugs may be provided that extend through the bottom substrate so as to provide a metal heat path between the bottom electrodes of the LED chips and air. The slugs may be similar to the electrodes 30 in
The diameters/widths of the substrates in
In the various embodiments where the LED dies have a semicircular top substrate, the light emitted from the dies in the direction of the substrate surface less than the critical angle is transmitted through the surface. However, light emitted from the dies in the direction of the top substrate's length may be subject to more total internal reflection. Therefore, such low angle light or internally reflected light should be reflected toward the surface of the top substrate by angled prisms or other reflectors positioned between adjacent LED dies along the length of the top substrate to provide a uniform emission pattern along the length of the light strip. The reflectors may be formed in the top or bottom substrates similar to the prisms 70 shown in
The bottom substrate 224 may be widened to support any number of LED chips along its width, and a separate hemispherical top substrate 222 may be used to cover each separate series string of LED chips mounted on the single bottom substrate (shown in
In
The bottom substrate 240 may have a flat bottom while the top substrate is hemispherical. This helps mounting the bottom substrate on a reflective support base. Providing the top substrate as hemispherical, with an outer phosphor coating, results in less TIR and a more lambertian emission.
In the various embodiments describing overlapping conductors on the top and bottom substrates forming a series connection, the connection may be enhanced by providing solder paste or a conductive adhesive on the conductor surfaces, followed by solder reflow or curing.
The top substrate 282 has conductors 284 that contact the top electrodes 58 of the LED chips 56, and the conductors 274 and 284 may come in contact with each other using the various techniques described herein to connect the LED chips 56 in series. The top substrate 282 has formed on its surface a phosphor layer 286 that converts the LED chips' top-emitted light to white light. The top substrate 282 may have an optical layer 288 laminated over it. The optical layer 288 has a pattern 290 molded into it that is used to create any light emission pattern desired. The pattern 290 can be a Fresnel lens, diffuser, collimator, or any other pattern.
In one embodiment, the bottom substrate of
A top substrate 300 has cavities or grooves 302 that extend into the plane of
The portions of the top substrate 300 directly over the LED chips 56 have a phosphor coating 306 for generating white light. The top substrate 300 is molded to have reflecting walls 308 along the length of the string of LED chips to direct light outward to avoid internal reflections. The reflective walls 308 may have a thin metal layer. The top and bottom substrates may extend across an entire 2×4 foot light sheet. Alternatively, there may be a separate top substrate for each string of LED chips 56.
At the end of each series string of LED chips or at other points in the light sheet, the anode and cathode conductors on the substrates must be able to be electrically contacted for connection to a current source or to another string of LED chips, whether for a series or parallel connection.
The ends of the exposed portions of the conductors 314 and 315 are thickly plated with copper, gold, silver, or other suitable material to provide connection pads 317 for solder bonding or for any other form of connector (e.g., a resilient clip connector) to electrically connect the anode and cathode of the end LED chip 56 to another string or to a power supply. The connection pads 317 may be electrically connected to a connector similar to the connector 22 in
In the various embodiments, the material for the substrates preferably has a relatively high thermal conductivity to sink heat from the low power LED chips. The bottom substrates may even be formed of aluminum with a dielectric between the conductors and the aluminum. The aluminum may be the reflector 199 in
The various conductors on the transparent top substrates may be metal until proximate to each LED chip, then the conductors become a transparent conductor (e.g., ITO) directly over the LED chip to not block light. A conductive adhesive (e.g., containing silver) may be used to bond the LED chips' anode electrode to the ITO.
The wavelength converting material, such as phosphor, can be infused in the top substrate, or coated on the top substrate, or used in the LED chip's encapsulant, or deposited directly over the LED chip itself, or formed as a tile over the LED, or applied in other ways.
The LED chips/substrate structures may be mounted on any suitable backplane that may include reflective grooves in a straight or meandering path. It is preferable that the LED chips appear to be in a pseudo-random pattern since, if an LED chip fails (typically shorts), it will not be noticeable to a viewer.
The top substrate may be molded with any optical pattern to shape the light emission. Such patterns include Fresnel lenses or holographic microstructures. Also, or instead, an additional optical sheet may be positioned in front of the substrate structures for shaping the light, such as diffusing the light, to meet the requirements of office lighting directed by the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, Recommended Practice 1-Office Lighting (IESNA-RP1).
In addition, having a plurality of strips of LED chips, with the strips having different optical structures for different light emission patterns, could be used with a controller that controls the brightness of each strip to create a variable photometric output.
The number of LED chips, chip density, drive current, and electrical connections may be calculated to provide the desired parameters for total flux, emission shape, and drive efficiency, such as for creating a solid state light fixture to replace standard 2×4 foot fluorescent fixtures containing 2, 3, or 4 fluorescent lamps.
Since the substrates may be only a few millimeters thick, the resulting solid state luminaire may be less than 1 cm thick. This has great advantages when there is no drop ceiling or in other situations where space above the luminaire is limited or a narrow space is desirable.
In embodiments where there is a conductor over the LED chip, a phosphor layer may be deposited on the inside surface of the substrate followed by an ITO deposition over the phosphor so that LED light passes through the ITO then excites the phosphor.
To avoid side light from the LED chips becoming scattered in the substrates and attenuated, 45 degree reflectors, such as prisms, may be molded into the bottom substrate surrounding each LED chip, similar to the prisms 70 in
Since the substrates are flexible, they may be bent in circles or arcs to provide desired light emission patterns.
Although adhesives have been describe to seal the substrates together, laser energy, or ultrasonic energy may also be used if the materials are suitable.
It is known that LED chips, even from the same wafer, have a variety of peak wavelengths so are binned according to their tested peak wavelength. This reduces the effective yield if it is desired that the light sheet have a uniform color temperature. However, by adjusting the phosphor density or thickness over the various LED chips used in the light sheet, many differently binned LED chips can be used while achieving the same color temperature for each white light emission.
The LEDs used in the light sheet may be conventional LEDs or may be any type of semiconductor light emitting device such as laser diodes, etc. Work is being done on developing solid state devices where the chips are not diodes, and the present invention includes such devices as well.
Quantum dots are available for converting blue light to white light (the quantum dots add yellow or red and green components to create white light). Suitable quantum dots can be used instead of or in addition to the phosphors described herein to create white light.
To provide high color rendering, the direct emissions of LED chips in the light sheet emitting red and green light can be controlled to mix with the white light emitted by phosphor-converted LED chips to produce a composite light that achieves high color rendering and enables the possibility of tuning the light by independent or dependent control of the red and green LEDs by open loop deterministic means or closed loop feedback means or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, different strings of LED chips have different combinations of the red, green, and phosphor-converted LEDs, and the strings are controlled to provide the desired overall color temperature and color rendering.
Since the light sheet is highly flexible and extremely light, it may be retained in a particular shape, such as flat or arced, using a light-weight frame.
In some applications, it may be desirable to have a luminaire emit light generally downward and off the ceiling for a certain lighting effect. Accordingly, all the light sheet/strip embodiments may be adapted to create a bidirectional sheet or strip.
Multiple light sheets may also be mounted in a ceiling fixture as flat strips, and each strip is tilted at a different angled relative to the floor so that the peak intensities of the strips are at different angles. In one embodiment, the peak intensity is normal to the flat surface of the light sheet, assuming no re-directing lenses are formed in the light sheet. Therefore, the shape of the light pattern from the fixture can be customized for any environment and can be made to merge with light from other fixtures. In one embodiment, some light strips are angled downward at 55 degrees, and other light sheets are angled upward to reflect light off the ceiling.
The middle reflective layer 360 may have as a property that it is a good conductor of thermal energy which can assist the traces 194 in dissipating the heat from the chips 56. There may be enough thermal mass within the middle layer 360 that it provides all of the heat sink required to operate the chips safely or it may be extended laterally (beyond the edges of the substrates 190 and 196, shown in dashed outline) to regions where the heat may be dissipated more freely to the air within the lighting fixture.
Any of the light sheet/strip structures described herein may be adapted to create a bidirectional light sheet.
The light output surfaces of the various substrates may be molded to have lenses, such as Fresnel lenses, that customize the light emission pattern, such as directing the peak intensity light 55 degrees off the normal, which is a desired angle to reduce glare and to allow the light to merge smoothly with light from an adjacent fixture. Different lenses may be formed over different LED dies to precisely control the light emission so as to create any spread of light with selectable peak intensity angle(s).
The top and bottom light emissions may also be adapted to have different spectral contents in addition to different optical dispersion characteristics. It is advantageous in some designs to consider that the soft fill light from above have one spectral content such as the lighter blue of daylight, for example 5600 Kelvin, and the direct light downwards having a preferred spectral content such as 3500 Kelvin, which mimics direct sunlight. The design of light sheet 362 is well suited to the creation of these two components. Furthermore, the modulation of light levels from the top and bottom light emissions may differ temporally as in the simulation of a day lighting cycle or to favor background illumination over direct illumination or in any combination as may be desired by users to increase their comfort and performance of tasks within the space.
Alternatively, the bidirectional light sheet 362 may be mounted in a conventional diffusively reflective troffer.
In one embodiment, the ceiling panels above the fixture may be infused with phosphor or other wavelength conversion material to achieve a desired white point from the ceiling light. In such a case, the light sheet may direct UV or blue light toward the ceiling.
In some applications, it may be desirable to provide a bidirectional light sheet emitting low intensity up-light and higher intensity down light, or vice versa. In the various disclosed embodiments of unidirectional light sheets having a reflective layer, the reflective layer may be omitted so there is a primary light emission surface and an opposing light leakage surface. The light leakage may be useful in certain applications, such as illuminating a ceiling to avoid a shadow and decreasing luminance contrast ratios.
To avoid any manufacturing difficulties with lamination and alignment, the snap-in structure of
As seen in
At least the top substrate 372 is formed of a resilient material, such as transparent plastic or silicone, so as to receive the base substrate 370 and resilient fix it in place. The spring force will provide a reliable compressive force between the opposing conductors, so a conductive adhesive between the abutting metal surfaces may be optional. The resulting structure may contain a string of LED dies that can be mounted on a larger support substrate with other strings of LED dies, or the top substrate 372 may extend laterally to receive multiple strips of base substrates 370, each supporting a series string of LED dies. The resulting structure may resemble that of
In one embodiment, the base substrate 370 is formed of a metal, such as aluminum, with a dielectric coating so that the base substrate 370 acts as a heat sink. Since the back surface of the base substrate 370 will be the highest part of the light sheet/strip when the light sheet is mounted in a ceiling or fixture, ambient air will cool the exposed surface of the metal.
In the various snap-in embodiments, the top substrate may be flexed to open up the edges of the receiving cavity or groove to allow the die substrate to easily snap in place. Alternatively, the top substrate may be heated to the point of plastic deformation such that the die substrate could also be readily inserted and the assembly then allowed to cool thereby locking the two parts together.
An encapsulant may be deposited along the sides of the die, which then squishes out when the die substrate snaps in place to encapsulate the die and provide a good index of refraction interface between the die and the top substrate.
The die substrates may be formed as a strip, supporting a plurality of spaced dies, or may be formed to only support a single die.
The phosphor layer 386 may be different for each serial column of LED chips so that the overall color temperature of the light sheet can be adjusted by changing the brightness of the various series strings of LED chips. For example, a thinner phosphor layer 386 will create bluer light, and the brightness of the associated LED chips can be adjusted to make the overall color temperature higher or lower. Many variations can be envisioned where different chromaticity of each LED string phosphor layer 386 may be controlled to create tunable white light.
In one embodiment, the bottom substrate 392 is formed of one type of material, such as a dielectric, and the snap-in features 394 may be die substrates formed of a different material, such as metal.
The top or bottom substrate in
If required for heat sinking, the LED die substrate 410 may include a metal slug 416 for transmitting heat to the ambient air, or the die substrate 410 itself may be metal.
In all embodiments of a light sheet with a phosphor overlying the LED chips, the LED chips may first be energized and tested for color temperature and brightness before or after being part of the light sheet. Then, each phosphor tile or layer deposited on the top substrate over an associated LED chip can be customized for the particular LED chip to achieve a target white point. In this way, there will be color uniformity across the surface of the light sheet irrespective of the peak wavelength of the individual blue LED chips. However, even if the same phosphor tile were positioned over each LED chip, the large number of LED chips (e.g., 300-600) would ensure that the overall (averaged) emitted light from the light sheet will be consistent from one light sheet to another in the far field.
If a phosphor layer is positioned over an LED chip, the phosphor layer should ideally intercept all the blue light emitted from the LED chip. However, due to light spreading in the transparent top substrate, the blue light may spread beyond the edges of the phosphor layer, creating an undesirable blue halo.
Although the examples of the light sheets herein have used blue LED chips with phosphors or other wavelength conversion materials (e.g., quantum dots) to create white light, white light may also be created by mixing the light from red, green, and blue LED chips, as shown in
The LED chips of a single color may be connected in series, and the relative brightness of the strings of LED chips is controlled by current to achieve the desired overall color or white point of the light sheet.
In another embodiment, various strings of LED chips may be phosphor-converted chips producing white light. Other strings may be composed of LED chips producing red, green, or blue light to allow those strings to be controlled to add more red, green, or blue to the white light.
Alternatively, all blue or UV LED chips may be used but the phosphors may be selected for each LED area to generate either red, green, or blue light. The relative brightness of the red, green, and blue light may be controlled to generate any overall color or white point.
Various light sheet embodiments disclosed herein have employed conductors on the inner surfaces of the top and bottom substrates opposing the LED chip electrodes.
In
Some blue LED chips, such as the SemiLEDs SL-V-B15AK vertical LED, are extremely thin, so there is minimal side light and high extraction efficiency. The thickness of the SL-V-B15AK die is only about 80 microns, which is less than a typical sheet of paper (about 100 microns). The bottom surface area of the SL-V-B15AK is about 400×400 microns. The data sheet for the SL-V-B15AK is incorporated herein by reference. In one embodiment of a light sheet to replace a standard 2×4 foot fluorescent lamp troffer, there are about 500 LED chips, with an average pitch of about 2 inches (5 cm). By using such thin LED chips, the flexibility and plasticity of the substrates allows the substrates to seal around the LED chips, obviating the need for any cavity, groove, or intermediate layer to accommodate the thickness of the LED chip. An encapsulant may be unnecessary for light extraction if there is direct contact between the top substrate and the top surface of the LED chip.
A very thin layer of silicone may be printed on the surface of the bottom substrate 502 as an adhesive and to seal around the LED chip 500.
If relatively large transparent substrate electrodes are used to contact the nominal wire bond terminals of the LEDs, positioning the LEDs is not as critical, so the LEDs may be positioned with their wire bond terminals facing upward, and the top substrate transparent electrodes may easily be aligned with the wire bond electrodes of the LEDs.
Next, the top substrate 504 is laminated over the bottom substrate 502. The top substrate 504 has a conductor pattern 520 that makes electrical contact with the LED chip bottom electrode and the conductor pattern 506 on the bottom substrate to create a serial connection between LED chips. A small amount of conductive adhesive 522 is deposited on the conductor pattern 520 to ensure good electrical contact.
Any lens structures may be formed in the top substrate 504, such as hemispherical lenses.
Any number of light strips 606 may be supported between the electrodes 608, and the light strips 606 may have different emission patterns or angles. For example, some light strips 606 may emit a peak intensity at 55 degrees relative to the normal, while others may emit a peak intensity at 0 degrees. The brightness of each strip 606 may be controlled to provide the desired overall light emission for the structure 604. In one embodiment, the structure 604 is about four feet long.
It is further advantageous to recognize that the US Department of Energy in their testing has noted that many of the commercially available fluorescent type replacement products utilizing LED sources fail to interact correctly with the fixture and produce the incorrect illumination patterns or create undesirable glare that is outside the accepted practice known as RP1. It is another object of the invention to adapt the optics of the sheet within the tube so that it provides a more favorable distribution of light from the light fixture.
The planar light sheet 606 may be pivotally suspended from and connected between two ends of the outer tube structure 604 by means of a pivot joint 609. This allows the light sheet 606 to be turned such that its top and bottom faces may be presented in any orientation within the light fixture once the electrodes are mechanically locked and energized. This ability to orient the light sheet independent of the ends provides a means for the installation and commissioning staff to adjust the light distribution within the fixture to suit user preference or to comply with field lighting requirements. Since the tube can have openings, it is an easy task to insert a tool through a hole to tilt the light sheet 606.
In another embodiment, the outer tube of the structure 604 is eliminated, and the light strip 606 is supported by the electrodes 608. This improves heat and light extraction. If required, the light strip 606 may be supported by an additional support rod or platform between the electrodes 608.
In another embodiment, the flat surface 610 may be a thermally conductive thin sheet of aluminum for spreading heat. The light strip 606 may include metal vias distributed throughout it and thermally connected to the sheet of aluminum to provide good heat sinking from the LED chips. The aluminum sheet may also add structural stability to the light strip 606 or structure 612.
In the example of
A larger, substantially cylindrical structure, but without the protruding electrodes 656, may instead be suspended from a ceiling as a standalone fixture. Such a fixture will illuminate the ceiling and floor of a room.
In the various embodiments, the phosphor, whether infused in the top substrate or a separate layer, may be varied to take into account the higher blue light intensity directly over the LED chip compared to the intensity at an angle with respect to the chip. For example, the phosphor thickness or density may be tapered as the phosphor extends away from the blue LED chip to provide a consistent white point along the phosphor area. If the phosphor is infused in the top substrate, the top substrate may be molded or otherwise shaped to have varying thicknesses for controlling the effective phosphor thickness. Alternatively, optics may be formed beneath the phosphor to provide more uniform illumination of the phosphor by the LED chip.
For improved heat extraction, any portion of the bottom substrate (which will be the highest surface when the light sheet is attached to/in a ceiling) may be metal.
Any portion of the light sheet may be used as a printed circuit board for mounting a surface mount package or discrete components, such as driver components. This avoids the use of costly connectors between the package/component terminals and the conductors in the light sheet.
The encapsulant may include phosphor power or any other type of wavelength conversion material, such as quantum dots.
As an alternative to using an injector 756, the liquid encapsulant 752 may be deposited using a pressured printing process or other means.
In
The structures described herein may be formed using various types of lamination processes. One practical process for mass production is a roll-to-roll process, where the substrates are originally provided on rolls. Another method may be via a panel lamination process whereby panels or strips of substrate material are laminated in a vertical press operation.
Side emissions from bare LEDs may be a concern since the LED light (e.g., blue light) may not be uniformly converted to white light by phosphor, either positioned over the LED or around the LED.
In all embodiments, the phosphor layer may be phosphor infused in a separately formed optical layer, or covering a separately formed optical layer, that is laminated over the light sheet/strip, where the “remote” phosphor converts the blue LED light to white light. The optical layer may also diffuse the light.
Various techniques have been described above for improving the uniformity of color temperature across the light sheet or strip or for providing an overall target color temperature. Due to the use of the disclosed light sheets/strips being preferably for general illumination, adequate light mixing may occur at a distance in front of the light sheet/strip, rather than requiring all areas of the light sheet/strip to output a uniform color temperature, which may be a requirement for an LCD backlight. By relaxing the requirements for near-field color uniformity, LEDs from different bins may be used in a single light fixture to greatly increase the effective yield of the LEDs. Therefore, it is desirable to have a technique for using LEDs from a variety of bins while achieving a target color temperature or target spectral distribution at some distance in front of the light fixture.
Each strip 842 is formed by LEDs from a variety of bins, where a bin number just identifies a particular narrow range of peak wavelengths, typically within the blue color range. In another embodiment, LEDs from only a single bin are used to form a strip, but different strips are formed from different bins of LEDs. Once a strip is formed, the phosphor provided in the strip will convert the LEDs' blue light to white light having a particular correlated color temperature (CCT). Strips 842 formed by the same combination of LEDs will have similar overall CCTs. However, to use essentially all of the LEDs in the different bins, the strips 842 will have a variety of overall CCTs. Each strip 842 is energized and optically tested to determine its overall CCT or spectral distribution. The strips 842 are then binned according to their CCT or spectral distribution (step 850 in
Accordingly, virtually all the LEDs in the bins will be used, while the overall color temperature of each fixture 840 will be consistent, and there will be good color uniformity across the fixture 840. Furthermore, there can also be an enhancement to the overall Color Rendering Index (CRI) of the resultant fixture due to the broadening of spectral power distributions that are inherent in this mixing of many different bins of LEDs.
The technique of
An excimer laser beam 872 is then automatically controlled to drill small holes over the top cathode electrodes 874 and over the interconnectors 180. The laser drilling will automatically stop at the metal. The laser beam 872 may be optically aligned with targets or may be aligned with a fiducial on the bottom substrate 176. Laser drilling to form vias is a well known process in the field of integrated circuitry.
In another embodiment, the holes are preformed in the top substrate material 870 using any technique, such as stamping, molding, or laser drilling, prior to the top substrate being positioned over the LED chips 56.
By creating an external metal connection between LED chips after the LED chips are encapsulated by a top layer, a reliable electrical connection can be made using conventional metallization techniques. Further, the metallization can be customized after the LED chips are encapsulated. This technique avoids complexities related to aligning and laminating a top sheet, having a preformed metal pattern, over the LED chips while making ohmic connections between the patterned metal and the LED electrodes.
The LED structure may be a narrow LED strip, having a single column of series connected LED chips, or may be an LED sheet, having a two dimensional array of LED chips.
As shown in
Any gaps between the top substrate material 870 and the bottom substrate 176 in all embodiments may be filled by a silicone adhesive layer.
In other embodiment, the metal connectors may be solder, and the solder is patterned using a printed or laminated solder mask.
In the various processes described, the conductor over the LED chips may be a transparent conductor so as to not block light. The transparent conductor will be connected to a lower resistivity conductor away from the chip. Transparent conductors include ITO, silver nanowires in a binder, and other known materials.
A bottom substrate 950 may be supplied on a roll 952. The substrate 950 may be a flexible circuit with a conductor pattern 954. The substrate 950 may be formed with a reflective bottom surface.
At a first station 956, the LED chips 958 are positioned on metal pads on the substrate 950, and the bottom electrodes (e.g., anode electrodes) of the LED chips 958 are bonded to the pads. This may be performed by conventional pick and place equipment.
At a next station 962, a top substrate material 964 may be laminated on, sprayed on, or otherwise deposited over the LED chips 958. The substrate material 964 may be a transparent material infused with a phosphor and may encapsulate the LED chips 958.
At a next station 966, holes 968 are formed where metal is to contact the LED electrodes and other conductors covered by the top substrate material 964. Holes may be formed by laser, ion beam, or other techniques described herein.
At a next station 972, a conductor 974 is deposited, such as by inkjet printing of conductive ink, to fill the holes and interconnect the LED chips 958 in series.
At a next station 980, a phosphor 982 is deposited, such as a preformed tile, a droplet of phosphor in a binder, a molded phosphor, a sprayed on phosphor, or other type. The wavelength conversion material may instead be quantum dots or other materials.
The resulting structure is then cut or put on a second roll 990. The roll-to-roll method is very advantageous for forming strips of LED chips since all processes are conducted on a linear arrangement of LED chips so alignment is very precise. A separate process may be performed to provide electrical termination connectors to the ends of the LED strips or perform any additional steps.
In all embodiments, the top layer over the LED chips may comprise a plurality of light-transmissive layers, such as for additional protection of the LED chips and conductors, or for improving light extraction, or for optically shaping the light emission, or for wavelength conversion, or for mechanical support, or for other uses.
In all embodiments, if a thicker conductive layer is desired, a printed conductor layer may be plated with copper or other metal. A sacrificial shorting bar, connected to all metal areas to be plated, may be formed to conduct the small current during electroplating. The bar may then be cut by laser or other means. Conductive inks can easily deposit layers of 20 microns.
Electroless plating of the inkjet/seed layer or any other layer may be used. One suitable inkjet printing technology involving a catalytic inkjet process followed by an electroless copper plating process is described Conductive Inkjet Technology at www.conductiveinkjet.com/en/technology.aspx, incorporated herein by reference.
Certain commercially available conductive inkjet inks are relatively viscous and can support phosphor particles. The inkjet inks may also by transparent. Therefore, the conductive ink making contact to the top electrode of the LEDs may be large for low resistivity, transparent for allowing light to pass, and, at the same time, provide phosphor conversion of the blue LED light. Quantum dots may also be used.
Suitable inkjet printers are commercially available along with many suitable varieties of conductive transparent and non-transparent inks.
As used herein, the term “printing” may include any and all printing, spraying, deposition, lamination, or other printing processes. Some other suitable printing processes include electroink printing, laser jet printing, magnetic printing, electro-optical printing, screen printing, and thermal printing. The preferred printing processes do not require special vacuum chambers, clean rooms, or elevated temperatures.
Any of the various structure components and method steps may be mixed and matched in other embodiments.
All the light sheets/strips described above are easily controlled to be automatically dimmed when there is ambient daylight so that the overall energy consumption is greatly reduced. Other energy saving techniques may also be used based upon load shedding, occupancy, task illumination and user intervention
Further, it may be desirable that the blue light component in the white light emitted by the light sheet/strip be adjustable over the day to conform to the circadian rhythm of humans. It is well known that humans find it more comfortable for artificial light to generally replicate some or all or the spectrum of the sun over the day. This can be generally accomplished by dynamically adjusting the amount of blue light emitted by the light source over the day. Accordingly, in a variation of all embodiments, blue LEDs having no phosphor or a reduced phosphor are distributed around the array of LEDs and controlled to have a variable brightness to selectively add or reduce the amount of blue light in the overall light emission of the light sheet/strip. These additional blue LEDs can be automatically controlled by an external controller for the circadian rhythm. One form of control may be by a signal through the power lines controlling a current source for the additional blue LEDs, such as the current source 202 in
Any embodiment may be used for overhead illumination to substitute for fluorescent fixtures or any other lighting fixture. Small light strips may be used under cabinets. Long light strips may be used as accent lighting around the edges of ceilings. The light sheets may be bent to resemble lamp shades. Many other uses are envisioned.
The standard office luminaire is a 2×4 foot ceiling troffer, containing two 32 watt, T8 fluorescent lamps, where each lamp outputs about 3000 lumens. The color temperature range is about 3000-5000 K. If low power LEDs are used (e.g., model SemiLEDs SL-V-B15AK LEDs driven at 20 mA), a substitute luminaire would need about 580-620 chips for equivalence to the DOE CALiPER benchmark troffer. Assuming chip prices in the range of 3-5 cents, the total chip cost would be $17.50-$31. If the chips are operated at higher currents, say 30 mA, then the total chip count could be reduced by approximately one-third. Power conversion/driver efficiency is about 85%. Overall then, the lightsheet efficacy (120 V AC to total lumens out) would be 78-86 lm/W at 20 mA drive current and 3.2 V (compared to the benchmark T8 troffer performance of 63 lm/W). Accordingly, the invention can provide a practical, cost-effective solid state substitute for a conventional 2×4 foot troffer, while achieving improved performance and enabling a wide range of dimming. The invention has applications to other geometric arrangements of light fixtures.
The various features of all embodiments may be combined in any combination.
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skill in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from this invention in its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope all changes and modifications that fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A lighting device comprising:
- a base substrate comprising a top surface and a bottom surface opposing the top surface;
- a plurality of snap-in features, the snap-in features being spaced apart from one another along first and second orthogonal dimensions of the base substrate, each snap-in feature of the plurality of snap-in features comprising a first surface, a second surface opposing the first surface, and a side surface, the second surface of the snap-in feature being in contact with the top surface of the base substrate;
- a plurality of cover substrates, each cover substrate of the plurality of cover substrates being elongated along the first dimension and comprising a rounded surface and a cover surface, at least a portion of the cover surface of the cover substrate being in contact with the top surface of the base substrate, and the rounded surface of the cover substrate having a rounded shape, wherein the cover surface of the cover substrate comprises a quantity of indentations, the indentations being spaced apart from one another and distributed along the first dimension, each of the indentations being shaped to conform with at least a portion of the side surface of the quantity of corresponding snap-in features, and wherein the cover substrate is disposed over the quantity of corresponding snap-in features, such that at least portions of the indentations are in contact with the at least a portion of the side surface of the quantity of corresponding snap-in features;
- a plurality of non-packaged light emitting diode (LED) dies, each non-packaged LED die being encapsulated between one of the plurality of snap-in features and a respective cover substrate of the plurality of cover substrates in a corresponding indentation of the cover surface of the respective cover substrate, such that during operation of the lighting device a peak intensity of light emitted by the non-packaged LED die is output through the rounded surface of the respective cover substrate; and
- a first set of conductors and a second set of conductors configured to provide power to the non-packaged LED dies, where the non-packaged LED dies are connected to the first set of conductors and the second set of conductors without wires, and the first set of conductors is formed, at least in part, on the first surface of the snap-in features and the second set of conductors is formed, at least in part, on the cover surface of the cover substrate, wherein at least a first portion of the first set of conductors are physically connected to at least a first portion of the second set of conductors.
2. The lighting device of claim 1, wherein at least a second portion of the first set of conductors and at least a second portion of the second set of conductors electrically connect with no intervening layer.
3. The lighting device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of non-packaged LED dies are vertical diodes, each diode having a first die electrode on a first surface and a second die electrode on an opposite surface, wherein at least a second portion of the first set of conductors are connected to the first die electrodes and at least a second portion of the second set of conductors are connected to the second die electrodes, such that the second portion of the first set of conductors and the second portion of the second set of conductors provide power to at least a portion of the plurality of non-packaged LED dies.
4. The lighting device of claim 1, further comprising a wavelength conversion layer in contact with at least a portion of the rounded surface of at least some of the plurality of cover substrates.
5. The lighting device of claim 4, wherein the wavelength conversion layer comprises a phosphor to create an alternative composition of light wavelengths.
6. The lighting device of claim 1, wherein LED dies of each of multiple sets of LED dies from the plurality of non-packaged LED dies are connected in series with each other, and wherein the multiple sets of LED dies are connected in parallel with each other.
7. The lighting device of claim 6, a further comprising multiple current sources, each of the multiple current sources connected in series to a respective one of the multiple sets of LED dies.
8. The lighting device of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the rounded surface of the cover substrates is shaped to have a reflective portion that redirects light emitted by the non-packaged LED dies during operation of the lighting device to create a desired light emission pattern.
9. The lighting device of claim 1, further comprising an optical sheet disposed over and optically coupled with at least some of the cover substrates to create a desired light emission pattern.
10. The lighting device of claim 9, wherein the optical sheet comprises at least one of prisms or lenses.
11. The lighting device of claim 1, wherein a cross section of the indentations nominal to the first dimension comprises a cavity that substantially conforms to a shape of the non-packaged LED die.
12. The lighting device of claim 1, wherein each snap-in feature of the plurality of snap-in features and the base substrate are integrally formed.
13. A lighting device comprising:
- a base substrate comprising a top surface and a bottom surface opposing the top surface;
- a plurality of snap-in features, the snap-in features being spaces apart from one another along first and second orthogonal dimensions of the base substrate, each snap-in feature of the plurality of snap-in features comprising a first surface, a second surface opposing the first surface, and a side surface, the second surface of the snap-in feature being in contact with the top surface of the base substrate;
- a plurality of cover substrates, each cover substrate of the plurality of cover substrates being elongated along the first dimension and comprising a rounded surface and a cover surface, at least a portion of the cover surface of the cover substrate being in contact with the top surface of the base substrate, and the rounded surface of the cover substrate having a rounded shape, wherein the cover surface of the cover substrate comprises a groove, the groove being elongated along the first dimension and shaped to conform with at least a portion of the side surface of a quantity of corresponding snap-in features, and wherein the cover substrate is disposed over the quantity of corresponding snap-in features, such that at least portions of the groove are in contact with the at least a portion of the side surface of the quantity of corresponding snap-in features;
- a plurality of non-packaged light emitting diode (LED) dies, each non-packaged LED die being encapsulated between one of the plurality of snap-in features and a corresponding cover substrate in the groove therein, such that during operation of the lighting device a peak intensity of light emitted by the non-packaged LED die is output through the rounded surface of the corresponding cover substrate; and
- a first set of conductors and a second set of conductors configured to provide power to the non-packaged LED dies, where the non-packaged LED dies are connected to the first set of conductors and the second set of conductors without wires, and the first set of conductors is formed, at least in part, on the first surface of the snap-in features and the second set of conductors is formed, at least in part, on the cover surface of the cover substrates, wherein at least a first portion of the first set of conductors are physically connected to at least a first portion of the second set of conductors.
14. The lighting device of claim 13, further comprising a wavelength conversion layer in contact with at least a portion of the rounded surface of at least some of the plurality of cover substrates.
15. The lighting device of claim 14, wherein the wavelength conversion layer comprises a phosphor to create an alternative composition of light wavelengths.
16. The lighting device of claim 13, wherein LED dies of each of multiple sets of LED dies from the plurality of non-packaged LED dies are connected in series with each other, and wherein the multiple sets of LED dies are connected in parallel with each other.
17. The lighting device of claim 16, further comprising multiple current sources, each of the multiple current sources connected in series to a respective one of the multiple sets of LED dies.
18. The lighting device of claim 13, wherein at least a portion of the rounded surface of the cover substrates is shaped to have a reflective portion that redirects light emitted by the non-packaged LED dies during operation of the lighting device to create a desired light emission pattern.
19. The lighting device of claim 13, further comprising an optical sheet disposed over and optically coupled with at least some of the cover substrates to create a desired light emission pattern.
20. The lighting device of claim 19, wherein the optical sheet comprises at least one of prisms or lenses.
21. The lighting device of claim 13, wherein a cross section of the groove nominal to the first dimension comprises a cavity that substantially conforms to a shape of the non-packaged LED die.
22. The lighting device of claim 13, wherein each snap-in feature of the plurality of snap-in features and the base substrate are integrally formed.
23. A lighting device comprising:
- a base substrate comprising a top surface and a bottom surface opposing the top surface;
- a plurality of snap-in features, each snap-in feature of the plurality of snap-in features being elongated along a first dimension of the base substrate and spaced apart from one another along a second dimension orthogonal to the first dimension, and each of snap-in features comprising a first surface, a second surface opposing the first surface, and a side surface, the second surface of the snap-in feature being in contact with the top surface of the base substrate;
- a plurality of cover substrates corresponding to the plurality of snap-in features, each cover substrate of the plurality of cover substrates being elongated along the first dimension and comprising a rounded surface and a cover surface, at least a portion of the cover surface of the cover substrate being in contact with the top surface of the base substrate, and the rounded surface of the cover substrate having a rounded shape, wherein the cover surface of the cover substrate comprises a groove, the groove being elongated along the first dimension and shaped to conform with at least a portion of the side surface of the corresponding snap-in feature, and wherein the cover substrate is disposed over a corresponding snap-in feature, such that at least portions of the groove are in contact with the at least a portion of the side surface of the corresponding snap-in feature;
- a plurality of non-packaged light emitting diode (LED) dies, where groups of the plurality of non-packaged LED dies are encapsulated between respective pairs of snap-in features and cover substrates along the corresponding grooves therein, such that during operation of the lighting device a peak intensity of light emitted by the non-packaged LED die is output through the rounded surface of the cover substrate of each of the pairs; and
- a first set of conductors and a second set of conductors configured to provide power to the non-packaged LED dies, where the non-packaged LED dies are connected to the first set of conductors and the second set of conductors without wires, and the first set of conductors is formed, at least in part, on the first surface of the snap-in features and the second set of conductors is formed, at least in part, on the cover surface of the cover substrates, wherein at least a first portion of the first set of conductors are physically connected to at least a first portion of the second set of conductors.
24. The lighting device of claim 23, further comprising a wavelength conversion layer in contact with at least a portion of the rounded surface of at least some of the plurality of cover substrates.
25. The lighting device of claim 24, wherein the wavelength conversion layer comprises a phosphor to create an alternative composition of light wavelengths.
26. The lighting device of claim 23, wherein LED dies of each of multiple sets of LED dies from the plurality of non-packaged LED dies are connected in series with each other, and wherein the multiple sets of LED dies are connected in parallel with each other.
27. The lighting device of claim 26, further comprising multiple current sources, each of the multiple current sources connected in series to a respective one of the multiple sets of LED dies.
28. The lighting device of claim 23, wherein at least a portion of the rounded surface of the cover substrates is shaped to have a reflective portion that redirects light emitted by the non-packaged LED dies during operation of the lighting device to create a desired light emission pattern.
29. The lighting device of claim 23, further comprising an optical sheet disposed over and optically coupled with at least some of the cover substrates to create a desired light emission pattern.
30. The lighting device of claim 29, wherein the optical sheet comprises at least one of prisms or lenses.
31. The lighting device of claim 23, wherein a cross section of the groove nominal to the first dimension comprises a cavity that substantially conforms to a shape of the non-packaged LED die.
32. The lighting device of claim 23, wherein each snap-in feature of the plurality of snap-in features and the base substrate are integrally formed.
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Type: Grant
Filed: May 3, 2011
Date of Patent: Jan 1, 2013
Patent Publication Number: 20110204390
Assignee: Quarkstar LLC (Las Vegas, NV)
Inventors: Louis Lerman (Las Vegas, NV), Allan Brent York (Langley), Michael David Henry (Albuquerque, NM), Robert Steele (Redwood City, CA), Brian D. Ogonowsky (Mountain View, CA)
Primary Examiner: Meiya Li
Attorney: Fish & Richardson P.C.
Application Number: 13/100,231
International Classification: H01L 29/18 (20060101); H01L 33/00 (20100101);
